I love to write free verse when I write poetry, although I also like to play with words in the structured forms of haikus and sonnets. Free verse allows me to use language as I please—to isolate or fuse simple and complex ideas with sparse or detailed diction. Free verse allows me to explore and innovate, which is critical to discovering the inner self and the outside world. In my free-verse poem, “Butterfly Flight,” a butterfly liberates itself from its “spun silk” cocoon where it developed into a beautiful and remarkable creature that it dreamt of becoming in its chrysalis before it emerged in reality. When the butterfly is free, it flies in a garden whose flowers attract butterflies. I chose the names of flowers that burgeon with alliteration, rhyme, imagery, and sensory appeal. I punctuate the lines of my poem with descriptive verbs that illustrate the stages. movements, and activities of the butterfly.